Course Description

LAW 669 - Wrongful Convictions

This course is about the wrongful conviction and incarceration of the factually innocent in the American criminal justice system. We will examine how and why wrongful convictions occur, the sources of error (e.g., eyewitness mis-identifications, false confessions, perjured testimony from jailhouse informants, police and prosecutorial misconduct, etc), and what can be done to minimize and/or prevent future errors. The goal of this course is to systematically describe, explain, and analyze the causes and consequences of, as well as solutions for, the wrongful conviction of the innocent in the American criminal justice system.